Sensitized, photo-sensitive glass and its production

ABSTRACT

A sensitized, photo-structurable glasses and methods for producing are provided. The glasses includes Si 4+ , one or more crystal-agonist, one or more crystal-antagonist, and one or more pair of nucleating agents. The glasses are sensitized in that the glass reacts more sensitive to irradiation with UV-light and can be crystallized easier and with higher aspect ratios than a non-sensitized glass with equal composition. Furthermore, the sensitized glasses of this invention have smaller crystal sizes after irradiation and tempering than a non-sensitized glass with equal composition. The invention also relates to a structured glass product. Such product can be obtained by submitting the crystallized glass product to a subsequent etching step. The structured product can be used in components or as component for the application fields micro-technology, micro-reaction-technology, electronic packaging, micro-fluidics, FED spacer, bio-technology, interposer, and/or three-dimensional structured antennae.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 15/158,182, filed on May 18, 2016, which is herein incorporated by reference.

This invention relates to a photo-sensitive glass and to a process for its production. The glass of the invention may have an excellent position accuracy of light exposed portions after heat treatment. Moreover, the glass may be sensitized, which means that it may react more sensitive to irradiation with UV-light and can be crystallized more efficiently and with higher aspect ratios than a non-sensitized glass with equal composition. Furthermore, the sensitized glasses of this invention may have smaller crystal sizes after irradiation and tempering than a non-sensitized glass with equal composition.

Photo-sensitive glasses are usually used for producing micro-structured bodies. During production of such bodies initially a glass is produced, which is photo-sensitive. This photo-sensitive glass is irradiated with UV-light on defined positions. Subsequently, the irradiated areas, in which nuclei have formed due to irradiation, may be transformed into areas with a crystalline phase by tempering These crystalline areas have better solubilities in an etching medium than the non-crystallized glass. Consequently, the thus processed bodies can be selectively etched with an etching solution which normally comprises hydrofluoric acid. The light exposed areas are etched by the etching solution in the order of 20 to 50 times faster than the intact glass. The result is a structured body.

Photo-sensitive glasses are known from the prior art for a long time.

The photo-structurable glass described in document US 2011/0195360 A1 comprises comparably much boron, aluminum and potassium, and only little silicon. The amount of alkali metal oxides is very high in the glasses described therein, apparently for reducing the melting point, which is increased due to the high aluminum content. In combination with the low content of silicon dioxide this results in a compromised chemical resistance. Accordingly, a high proportion of zinc oxide is used for improving the chemical resistance. The composition of the glass is not precisely described in this prior art document; the specified ranges are very wide and do not allow any conclusion with regard to the exact proportions. Also the process of production of the glass is not described.

Also U.S. Pat. No. 2,971,853 describes photo-structurable glasses that are supposed to be completely light exposed and ceramized. It was tried to influence stoichiometry of the formed crystals from metasilicate to disilicate stoichiometry—thus towards lower alkali metal contents—by further temperature treatment. Accordingly, the contents of sodium and potassium are very low in the glass described therein. The glasses were melted under different redox-conditions, however only in laboratory scale (1 pound). Furthermore, the glasses described in the document are supposed to be completely ceramized after irradiation.

DE 10 2005 003 595 A1 describes optical elements and systems, which comprise photo-sensitive glass or photo-sensitive glass ceramic material. The glasses may be oxidic glasses or chalcogenide glasses. The compositional ranges do not allow any conclusion with regard to specific compositions. Differences in refractive index are induced by irradiation. The glasses may be melted under oxidizing conditions. Apart from that, the glasses described therein contain very much sodium and halides and little lithium. The production of glass bodies is done via cutting and polishing of a bulk glass.

DE 10 2008 002 104 A1 describes a glass that has a crystal phase of spodumene or lithium disilicate. The coefficient of thermal expansion is designed to be as low as possible. The composition described therein has relatively much zinc and aluminum and only a little amount of sodium. DE 1 696 473 describes a process for producing crystalline mixed-bodies. The underlying glass contains very much aluminum and zinc. DE 103 04 382 A1 relates to a photo-structurable body. The glass underlying the body contains high amounts of aluminum. Furthermore, the glasses contain only little nuclei source in relation to cerium. US 2008/0248250 A1 relates to a process for production of structured glass with a high anisotropic etching rate ratio. The glasses described therein contain relatively little silicon, a lot of sodium and potassium, a lot aluminum and a lot of boron.

Production of photo-sensitive glasses is delicate because of the tendency of these glasses to crystallize. Those skilled in the art of making photo-sensitive glasses make sure that the melt passes through the crystallization range temperature range very quickly (quenching).

It has to be differentiated between unwanted crystallization in glass production, which is also called “devitrification”, and directed crystallization, which can be achieved in photo-structurable glasses by light exposure and tempering. It is indeed a crystallization process in each case, however, the processes differ with regard to the occurring crystals. While alkali disilicates are formed in devitrification, alkali metasilicate crystals are generated in directed crystallization in photo-structurable glasses. Despite the described differences with regard to the processes underlying crystallization, photo-structurable glasses also have an increased tendency to devitrification in addition to the tendency to crystal formation induced by exposure to light and tempering desired for photo-structurability.

Consequently, producing such glasses in good quality and without unwanted crystallization is not trivial. The crystallization tendency of the glasses is at least in part based on the presence of a pair of nucleating agents. In the prior art, for this purpose the pair cerium and silver is used amongst others. The chemical process underlying the formation of nuclei is described by the following reaction equation.

Ce³⁺+Ag⁺+hv→Ce⁴⁺+Ag⁰  (Equation I)

Upon irradiation of photo-sensitive glasses with UV-light at a wavelength of about 320 nm, trivalent cerium yields an electron to the silver ion, whereby elemental silver is generated. In a subsequent tempering step the desired crystal nuclei are formed around the generated atomic silver. During tempering the irradiated portion may move due to structural phenomena in the glass. These movements may impair the desired use.

It is a challenge for producers of photo-sensitive glass to adjust a good balance between the desired crystallizability after production and the critical crystallization tendency, which complicates the production. For example, increase of the applied amount of silver results in formation of elemental silver already during melting. The silver may precipitate and result in silver bubbles or silver droplets, whereby the production is complicated or even becomes impossible.

Furthermore, production is also particularly challenging for the reason that the components cerium and silver, respectively, have to be present in the correct oxidation state in the final glass so that the reaction as described above (equation I) can take place. Of course, an oxidizing melting procedure results in prevention of precipitation of colloidal silver because reduction to metallic silver does not occur. However, in such a case, cerium is present in its tetravalent form in the glass so that the desired reaction (equation I) cannot take place upon exposure to UV-light.

On the other hand, if a reducing melting procedure is selected, for increasing the amount of trivalent cerium, the risk is increased that silver nuclei are formed already during production. Silver nuclei in unexposed glass disturb selective crystallization of the glass by tempering because also unexposed areas would crystallize. Moreover, the glass would not fulfill the transmittance requirements. Rather, it is desired that no silver nuclei are formed during production so that essentially the entire silver in the glass is available as monovalent silver ions for reaction I.

It is discussed intensively in the literature, how the melting procedure can be optimized for maximizing the photo-sensitivity of the obtained glass without compromising the processability of the glass. This goal was not satisfyingly achieved so far.

Thus, there is still no photo-sensitive glass available that could for example be processed in continuous production methods or hot processing methods (down draw, new down draw, overflow fusion, pressing, redrawing). It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a glass that is suitable for continuous production and for processing in modern glass processing methods without having inferior properties with regard to crystallizability and photo-sensitivity as compared to the glasses of the prior art. In contrast, the glasses of the present invention are preferably even better than the prior art glasses with respect to crystallizability, aspect ratio, etching rate ratio and/or position accuracy.

In an embodiment the invention relates to a sensitized, photo-structurable glass that comprises Si⁴⁺, one or more crystal-agonist, one or more crystal-antagonist and one or more pair of nucleating agents,

-   -   a. wherein the crystal-agonists are selected from Na⁺, K⁺, and         Li⁺,     -   b. wherein the crystal-antagonists are selected from Al³⁺, B³⁺,         Zn²⁺, Sn²⁺ and Sb³⁺,     -   c. wherein the pair of nucleating agents comprises cerium and at         least one agent from the group of silver, gold and copper,         wherein the molar proportion of the crystal-agonists in cat.-%         in relation to the molar proportion of Si⁴⁺ is at least 0.3 and         at most 0.85 and the glass has a position accuracy value of less         than 0.5%.

The term “position accuracy”, refers to a property wherein light exposed portions of the glass essentially remain in their desired positions after heat treatment.

The “position accuracy value” is a relative measure of the position accuracy. A low position accuracy value reflects a high position accuracy. The position accuracy value is determined by comparing the desired positions of light exposed portions of the glass with the positions after heat treatment, also referred to as “tempering”. The average changes in the positions of the light exposed portions relative to the positions of these portions after heat treatment give the position accuracy value. Herein, the term “average” refers to the arithmetic mean. To assess the average relative change in the position of the light exposed portions, the distances of the light exposed portions to a fixed-point are measured after heat treatment and compared with the desired distances of the light exposed portions to the fixed-point. The fixed-point is in the center of a circle, while the light exposed portions lay on a circumference around the fixed-point. Further details of the measuring set up are explained below.

In particular, a mask with a desired hole pattern is placed onto a glass article. The holes in the mask represent the portions of the glass that are subjected to the light exposure. The glass article for the measurement may have a diameter of about 100 mm and an average thickness of about 0.5 mm. The glass article may be a wafer. The pitch between adjacent holes in the mask is about 100 μm, the diameter of each hole is about 30 μm. The mask may of a conventional type, it may be made of quartz and a chromium layer may be used as UV-shielding layer. The material of the mask may be in the form of a sheet. Suitable thicknesses of the mask are not critical to the measurement, average thicknesses of 2.5 to 3 mm may be used. The glass article with the mask is exposed to UV-light through the holes. The light may have a wavelength from 280 to 330 nm, such as 320 nm. The dose is about 7.5 J/cm². After UV-light exposure, the mask is removed from the glass article and the glass article is subjected to heat treatment, also referred to as tempering, at about 500° C. for about 1 h. Subsequently, the glass article is etched using about 10% hydrofluoric acid and ultrasound treatment. Etching may take place for about 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature. Thereby through-holes are produced at the light exposed portions.

A video measurement system of 2.5 dimensions, T-King EVS4030, is utilized to determine the distances of the fixed-point at the center of the circle and holes in the circumference of the measuring lay out as can be seen in FIG. 7. The distances of an inner fixed-point to each of twelve surrounding points/holes that lay on the circumference of the fixed-point with a radius of 35.355 mm are taken. The desired distance between the fixed-point and each of twelve surrounding points is thus 35.355 mm. The relative change of the positions after tempering is determined from the measured distances by formula (i) stated below for each of the twelve surrounding points.

Relative position change×=[(|measured distance after heat treatment−desired distance|)/desired distance]*100%

Then the arithmetic mean of the twelve relative position changes x₁ to x₁₂ is calculated to give the position accuracy value.

The measurements may be taken at the edge or the center of the glass article, or at any other portion of the article. Measurements at the center may be taken with a distance of from 10 to 15 mm from the edge of the glass article, for example.

A high position accuracy allows for etching of fine structures with particularly high precision.

The glass according to the present invention may have a position accuracy value of less than 0.5%, or less than or equal to 0.3%, preferably of less than or equal to 0.2%, more preferably of less than or equal to 0.15%, even more preferably of less than or equal to 0.1%. In an embodiment, the position accuracy value may be at least 0.001%, or at least 0.005%.

In an embodiment the relative change of position of at least 75%, or at least 90% of the measured holes has the same quality, i.e. positive or negative. In an embodiment all the measured holes show a relative change in position of the same quality. This is useful in order to predict the behavior of the glass article during tempering. In a preferred embodiment the quality of relative position change amounts to an increase of the distance between the fixed point and the measured points.

In an embodiment the invention relates to a sensitized, photo-structurable glass that comprises Si⁴⁺, one or more crystal-agonist, one or more crystal-antagonist and one or more pair of nucleating agents,

-   -   a. wherein the crystal-agonists are selected from Na⁺, K⁺, and         Li⁺,     -   d. wherein the crystal-antagonists are selected from Al³⁺, B³⁺,         Zn²⁺, Sn²⁺ and Sb³⁺,     -   e. wherein the pair of nucleating agents comprises cerium and at         least one agent from the group of silver, gold and copper,         wherein the molar proportion of the crystal-agonists in cat.-%         in relation to the molar proportion of Si⁴⁺ is at least 0.3 and         at most 0.85.

The glass may have a cooling state that corresponds to a steady cooling from a temperature T1 to a temperature T2 with a cooling rate K of at most 200° C./h, wherein temperature T1 is at least above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass and temperature T2 is at least 150° C. below T1. In an embodiment, T1 is 100° C. above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass and temperature T2 is 250° C. below T1. In another embodiment, T1 is 50° C. above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass and temperature T2 is 200° C. below T1. In another embodiment, T1 is 25° C. above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass and temperature T2 is 150° C. below T1. In this context “steady” means that cooling is effected continuously from T1 to T2 without the glass being kept on certain temperature levels. In particular, cooling with essentially constant cooling rate may be done. In an embodiment, maximum and minimum cooling rates during cooling from the temperature T1 to the temperature T2 may deviate from the average cooling rate K by at most ±20%, at most ±15%, at most ±10%, or at most ±5%, respectively. If the glass is cooled to room temperature after cooling to T2, also this further cooling may occur steadily, but further cooling below T2 is not decisive. Room temperature is preferably 20° C. The adjustment of the cooling state may make the glass more susceptible for crystallization even if melting was done in a relatively oxidizing way.

The cooling state of a glass can be determined on a given glass also without knowledge of the manufacturing conditions. For determining the cooling state of a glass sample P, initially its refractive index n_(d) and/or its mass density ρ are determined. The sample may then be divided into several individual samples P1, P2, P3 and so on. Each sample is then heated to temperature T1 and subsequently cooled down to temperature T2 with different cooling rates K1, K2, K3 and so on. After cooling to temperature T2 and optionally further cooling to room temperature, index of refraction n_(d) and/or mass density ρ are determined again so that each of the values can be assigned to a cooling rate. The obtained pairs of values can then be plotted in a coordinate system, wherein the ordinate represents the optical density and the abscissa represents the cooling rate. Based on the so obtained cooling curve a conclusion can be drawn from the density of the glass sample P to the cooling state thereof. An example is shown in FIG. 1. It can be seen that the index of refraction decreases with increasing cooling rate. Thus, a quenched glass has a lower index of refraction than a slowly cooled glass. In case the x-axis is plotted logarithmically, the correlation arises from a simple linear equation. An example thereof is shown in FIG. 2. The terms “refractive index” and “index of refraction” are used synonymously in the present description.

The cooling state of a glass is thus a measure for the conditions during the cooling of the glass. A “quenched” glass, which was cooled very fast from the melt (for example >>300° C./h), has a high cooling state. The ions in such a glass are “frozen” in a comparably disordered state. So to speak, by fast cooling from the melt, the glass is thus “frozen” on a high energy level. The high temperature ranges, in which a spatial approaching of the crystal components (crystal-agonists, Si⁴⁺) was still possible due to low viscosity, was passed through fast. Therefore, a fast cooled glass, which is on a high cooling state, has a comparably low density or index of refraction. The differences of the index of refraction of a glass in dependence of its cooling state are comparably low. However, because these properties can be measured reliably up to the sixth decimal place and beyond, this method is nevertheless suitable for providing a reliable measuring result. Experiments have shown that the sensitizing of glass as described herein causes an increase in refractive index at least in the fifth, preferably even in the fourth decimal place.

The cooling state of some embodiments of the present invention ensues if the glasses of this invention are subjected to a sensitization step as described herein. This sensitization step is described further below. If herein a sensitization step is mentioned, this always means a treatment step, which occurs prior to light exposure of the glass. The heat treatment step after light exposure of the glass is herein called “tempering” in accordance with the literature.

Probably for the better crystallizability of glasses sensitized according to embodiments of this invention there are a plurality of reasons, which result from the complex interplay of glass composition and sensitization or production method. Thereby it is probable that an approaching of the crystal components is reached by the sensitization. This approaching could be enabled by the glass being in a viscosity range, which allows diffusion of the crystal-agonists in the network, for a comparably long time span (in comparison to cooling by quenching) during cooling from T1 to T2. Thereby the glass approaches the crystalline state, however, without crystallizing. So to speak, it is more sensitive for the desired crystallization after a UV-exposure.

In addition, a sensitized glass may have a more close-meshed glass structure due to its higher density. This could be the reason for the particularly small crystals forming in the crystallized glass. Finally, crystal-agonists, whose mobility is important for crystallization, cannot as easily move by diffusion in a close-meshed structure as in a comparable coarser network. Thereby crystal growth should be hindered in the sensitized glass so that crystals may indeed be formed around the generated nuclei, however, their growth and thus the association of several crystals to larger crystals is hindered. The results may be fine crystal arrangements that allow etching of particularly fine structures.

Furthermore, it turned out that due to sensitization the self-absorption of the glass matrix (band edge) in the important UV-region around the absorption maximum of Ce³⁺ may be shifted in the direction of smaller wave-lengths. Thereby the absorption in this region may be overall smaller and the UV-light, which is used for irradiation, can enter deeper into the glass and can achieve a deeper structure depth. The results shown in FIG. 3 prove the increase in transmittance in the UV-region achieved by sensitization.

In accordance with embodiments of this invention a glass may have a cooling state, which corresponds to a comparably low cooling rate. Prior art glasses are cooled with very high cooling rate for keeping the crystallization risk down. In contrast, the glasses of the invention may be cooled by the sensitization in such a way, either directly from the melt or in a subsequent step following the melt and if applicable following hot forming, that a cooling state of at most 200° C./h may be reached. Preferably, the cooling state may even be below 150° C./h, below 120° C./h, below 100° C./h or below 85° C./h. In an embodiment, the cooling state can even be below 80° C./h. In every given glass the cooling rate can be correlated with the refractive index as shown in FIG. 1 and an unambiguous relation can be established. However, the glass of the invention cannot simply be characterized by indication of the refractive index because the glass composition has a much greater impact on the refractive index than the cooling rate.

However, it has to be considered that due to the circumstances described above (ion mobility, crystal formation)—dependent on the glass composition—optionally a certain cooling state is not undercut. At a very slow cooling, the glass may stay in a temperature range, which enables crystal formation, for too long. Then crystallization would occur. In an embodiment it turned out to be advantageous, not to undercut a cooling state of 10° C./h, more preferably 20° C./h, particularly preferably 40° C./h and more preferably 60° C./h for not risking crystallization. This does not exclude that certain glass compositions tolerate even such a low cooling state.

The term “cooling state of X° C./h” indicates a cooling state that corresponds to a cooling from a temperature Tito a temperature T2 with a steady cooling rate K of at most X° C./h. It has to be noted that the indication of a “cooling state that corresponds to a cooling from a temperature T1 to a temperature T2 with a steady cooling rate K of at most X° C./h” does not mean that the so characterized glass was necessarily cooled with such a steady cooling rate from T1 to T2. Rather, it is meant that it has the same cooling state as such a glass. The glass of the invention could also have been cooled from a temperature T1 with a cooling rate K′ to a temperature T1′ and then with a cooling rate K″ to a temperature T2, i.e. not cooled steadily.

In embodiments of this invention alkali metasilicate crystals are formed upon tempering after light exposure. Metasilicates are characterized by a stoichiometry, which has one mole crystal-agonists, for example an alkali metal oxide as Li₂O or Na₂O, per mole of silicon dioxide (SiO₂). Thus, the stoichiometric ratio of alkali metal ions to silicon ions in the metasilicate is 2:1. If both components, alkali metal oxide and silicon dioxide, in this stoichiometric ratio of the crystal were melted together and cooled down, no glass would be formed but a ceramic.

In order to obtain a glass and not a ceramic, on the one hand the glass composition substantially deviates from this crystal stoichiometry and on the other hand crystal-antagonists are used for decreasing the crystallization tendency of the glasses.

According to the invention, “glass” is understood as an essentially amorphous material and “ceramic” as an essentially completely crystalline material. A material that contains both crystalline and amorphous phases is called “glass-ceramic”.

It turned out to be advantageous to select the stoichiometry of crystal-agonists and silicon in form of Si⁴⁺ in such a way that the molar ratio in cat.-% of crystal-agonists to Si⁴⁺ in the glass is at least 0.3, at least 0.5 or at least 0.55. However, this ratio should not exceed a value of 0.85, of 0.7, or a ratio of at most 0.65. If namely with respect to Si⁴⁺ a too low amount of crystal-agonists is used, then the composition departs too far from the desired stoichiometry and the crystallization tendency is strongly reduced. Crystallizing such a glass would be lengthy and energy-intensive. Furthermore, mostly disilicates would be formed, which do not show such a substantial solubility difference in comparison to glass with regard to common etching solutions as the desired metasilicates. A too high amount of crystal-agonists, however, would increase the crystallization tendency strongly due to approaching the stoichiometry of the metasilicate and would complicate or make impossible the processability.

A glass melt has a very high temperature, which is well above temperature ranges, in which crystals or nuclei may form. For example, the glass of the invention is melted at temperatures that are preferably above 1300° C., more preferably above 1400° C. Such a temperature assures that all components are melted. Preferably, a temperature of 1800° C., more preferably 1700° C. and particularly preferably 1600° C. should however not be exceeded because too high temperatures favor the reduction of silver in the glass and additionally the energy demand is thereby strongly increased. Only upon cooling of the glass melt after the production, the crystallization tendency increases until the viscosity of the melt is so high that no more nuclei can be formed. The reason is that diffusion of crystal components is restricted with increasing viscosity. Thus, there is a temperature range that is associated with particularly pronounced crystallization tendency. For the glass of the present invention this is in the range of from 990° C. to 600° C., in particular to 460° C. For this reason, crystallization-susceptible glasses have to be cooled fast enough through this range. When it is cooled too slowly, the thermodynamically preferred crystal phase is formed and no glass is obtained, but a glass-ceramic. This mostly applies also to the glass of the present invention with the exception that in accordance with the present invention a sensitization may take place, either by cooling the melt in the temperature range from T1 to T2 comparably slowly or by initial fast cooling from the melt and then a slow cooling from T1 to T2 in a subsequent sensitization step.

By fast cooling the glass is so to say “frozen” on a high energy level. Just due to the high viscosity of the glass it is not transformed into the energetically more favorable crystal state. This is also the reason why photo-sensitive glasses are tempered after irradiation. Otherwise, neither the temperature necessary for nuclei formation (“nuclei forming temperature”) would be achieved in the irradiated photo-sensitive glasses nor the higher “crystal growth temperature”. Both temperatures represent temperature ranges. The prior irradiation ensures that in the tempering step crystallization of specifically the irradiated areas can be achieved. Thereby in interaction with the higher etchability of the crystallized areas, directed introduction of structures in the subsequent etching step is enabled.

Glasses, which already have an extremely high devitrification tendency due to their composition or due to the process management, have to be cooled down from the melt very fast. Thereby the viscosity of the melt increases so fast that no crystallization occurs. A glass can be obtained, which is “frozen” on a high cooling state. Such a glass may be well suitable for photo-structuring due to the correlation between devitrification tendency and the tendency to crystal formation induced by light exposure and tempering as described above. The desired crystals are formed fast upon tempering after light exposure. However, such a glass can be post-processed only with relatively cost-intensive processes. A priori most processes are excluded, in which the glass has to be re-warmed. Eventually in rewarming nothing else happens than in tempering: diffusion of ions, in particular of small alkali metal ions, increases and nuclei and crystals are formed. Consequently, such glasses, which inherently are particularly devitrification-susceptible, can only be post-processed coldly. A hot post-processing (for example re-drawing) is out of question. The same applies for hot forming steps directly from the melt (for example pressing, floating, rolling, out-rolling, down draw, overflow fusion). Glasses with such extremely high devitrification tendency are not subject of the present invention.

The present invention provides glasses, which indeed have a pronounced crystallization tendency so that they can be photo-structured, which however do not show extremely high devitrification tendency. This is achieved by the process management and/or by the composition of the glasses. For instance, the glasses of the invention significantly deviate from the metasilicate stoichiometry; furthermore they may be melted in a comparably oxidizing way.

Thereby it may be achieved that the pair of nucleating agents (for example cerium and silver) present in the glass is present with regard to the nuclei-source (in particular Ag) mostly in higher oxidation states. Thereby also a higher proportion of cerium may be present in the oxidation state Ce⁴⁺ than would be the case in a more reducing melt. In the prior art this constellation is mostly described as undesired because as much Ce³⁺ must be present as possible for nuclei formation according to the reaction described above (equation I). However, according to the invention this is wanted for conferring the glass with a low crystallization tendency directly after the melt. According to the invention, only later—after the melting but prior to the light exposure—the ratio of Ce³⁺ to Ce⁴⁺ is shifted more towards Ce³⁺ by the sensitization. The ratio of both oxidation states of cerium can unfortunately not be determined in the glass. Namely, decomposition of the glass is changing the oxidation state and the transmittance bands of Ce⁴⁺ are in a wavelength region, in which the glass itself is strongly absorbing.

A comparably oxidizing melting procedure has the advantage that the glasses of this invention may be subjected to one or more hot processing steps directly after the melt or at a later time point, in any case however prior to light exposure and in particular also prior to sensitization. The pair of nucleating agents is so to say restricted in its activity at the time point of hot processing due to the presence of Ce⁴⁺. However, without nuclei no crystals are formed. The glass or the melt are thus in a comparably uncritical state with regard to crystallization.

Suitable hot processing steps in accordance with the invention are for example pressing, down draw, new down draw and redrawing. These hot processing methods are well known from the prior art. They can be performed as known with the glass of the invention, however with the proviso that the melt should be cooled relatively fast through the temperature range from 990° C. to 600° C., in particular to 460° C. T1 is preferably below 600° C. so that a fast passing through the indicated temperature range preferably allows for a directly subsequent sensitization. In the temperature range from 990° C. to 600° C. the crystallization risk is substantial even for the glass of the invention. The indicated temperature range should therefore be passed through in not more than 120 minutes, more preferably not more than 60 minutes, more preferably not more than 30 minutes and particularly preferably not more than 15 minutes. In particularly preferred processes, the indicated temperature range is preferably even passed through in less than 5 minutes, in particular less than 2 minutes.

A crucial aspect, which is responsible for the substantial but moderate crystallization tendency of the present glasses, is their composition. This invention is based to a large degree on the correct adjustment of the molar ratios of the cations to each other (crystal stoichiometry). Therefore, it is reasonable to characterize the glass composition by indications in cat.-%. Of course the glass also comprises anions, which shall also be described below. However, they are less formative for the properties of the glass than the cations so that a focus of the invention is more on the cation composition.

The term “cation percent” (abbreviated “cat.-%”) relates to the relative molar proportions of the cations with regard to the total amount of cations in the glass. Of course the glass also comprises anions, whose relative molar proportions in relation to the total amount of anions in the glass is herein indicated as “anion percent” (abbreviated “anion-%”).

As described at the beginning, the glass of the invention comprises Si⁴⁺ in any case. This component is added to the melt preferably in form of SiO₂ (sand). Si⁴⁺ is crucial for the glass properties and for the crystallization behavior because it is a key component of the alkali metasilicate crystal. The stoichiometry of the alkali metasilicate crystal is shown subsequently:

R₂O₃Si R=alkali metal ion

In a preferred embodiment the glass of the invention comprises silicon (Si⁴⁺) in an amount of at least 45 cat.-%, further preferred at least 50 cat.-%, more preferred at least 52 cat.-% and particularly preferred at least 56 cat.-%. The content of this component should not exceed a value of at most 65 cat.-%, further preferred at most 63 cat.-%, further preferred at most 61 cat.-% and particularly preferred at most 60.5 cat.-%. The amount of this component has to be considered because a too low amount of silicon can impair the crystallization tendency too strongly. Very small amounts of silicon would even result an increase of crystallization tendency in such a way that no glass is obtained at all. Furthermore, silicon is an important glass former, which critically co-determines the glass network. If however too much silicon is added, the glass network becomes denser. This restricts the ion mobility in the glass and prevents the diffusion in particular of alkali metal ions so that crystal formation would be prevented.

The selection of the right amount of silicon is comparably complex because not only the proportion of silicon is alone decisive but also the proportions of Al³⁺ and B³⁺ as well as the ratio of alkali metal ions to silicon play a role. According to the invention, the molar ratio of alkali metal ions to the molar proportion of silicon is at least 0.3 to at most 0.85. Preferably, this ratio should be at least 0.4 and at most 0.8, more preferably at least 0.5 and at most 0.75 and particularly preferably at least 0.6 and at most 0.7.

Consequently, also the proportion of crystal-agonists in the glass plays a role. According to the invention, the crystal-agonists are preferably selected from the cations of lithium (Li⁺), sodium (Na⁺) and potassium (K⁺). Preferably, the glass of the invention contains all three components Li⁺, Na⁺ and K⁺. The total amount of these components should preferably be at least 30 cat.-%, further preferably at least 32 cat.-% and more preferably at least 34 cat.-%. However, an amount of 45 cat.-%, further preferred 43 cat.-%, more preferred 40 cat.-% or 38 cat.-% should not be exceeded. A too large amount of these components would on the one hand very strongly increase the crystallization tendency of the glass and would on the other hand strongly reduce the chemical resistance of the glass. At a too low amount of these components the crystallization tendency would be strongly reduced because this would inherently result in a larger deviation from the metasilicate stoichiometry.

However, not only the total amount of crystal-agonists is relevant but also the content of the respective individual components and their ratios to each other. The glass of the invention preferably comprises lithium in an amount, which exceeds the molar amounts of each of sodium and potassium. Preferably, the content of lithium also exceeds the content of the sum of potassium and sodium in the glass. With other words, preferably lithium is the main component among the crystal-agonists. The amount of lithium in the glass of the invention is preferably at least 20 cat.-%, further preferably at least 25 cat.-%, more preferably at least 27.5 cat.-% und particularly preferably at least 28 cat.-%. The content should preferably be at most 40 cat.-%, further preferably at most 35 cat.-% and particularly preferably at most 32 cat.-%. The ratio of lithium to silicon should preferably be at least 0.4 und more preferred at least 0.45. In particular, this value is at most 0.7, further preferably at most 0.65, more preferably at most 0.6 and particularly preferably at most 0.55.

Because lithium is preferably the main component among the crystal-agonists, with regard to advantages and disadvantages of the indicated ratios of lithium to silicon the same applies as described above for the ratio of crystal-agonists to silicon. Lithium is preferably the main component among the crystal-agonists according to the invention because lithium is particularly mobile since it is the smallest cation of the alkali metals. This facilitates diffusion of lithium in comparison to the other alkali metals and enables sensitization of the glass at comparably low temperatures and comparably fast.

Indeed lithium is preferably the main component of the crystal-agonists in the glass of the invention and thus exceeds with regard to the molar proportion the proportions of the components sodium and potassium. Nevertheless, the glass of the invention preferably also contains the components potassium and/or sodium in addition to lithium. Thereby it is preferred that the component potassium exceeds the component sodium in its molar proportion. It has turned out that thereby the tendency of the glass to build the desired metasilicate crystals after light exposure is increased. A too high amount of sodium in relation to potassium would favor crystal formation in favor of the disilicates. Potassium may improve the chemical resistance of the glass when used in small amounts. Furthermore, potassium reduces the devitrification tendency of the glass at the production. The content of potassium in the glass of the invention should preferably be at least 2 cat.-%, further preferably at least 2.5 cat.-%, more preferably at least 3 cat.-% and particularly preferably at least 3.5 cat.-%. However, the content of this component should preferably be at most 8 cat.-%, further preferably at most 7 cat.-%, more preferably at most 6 cat.-% and particularly preferably at most 5 cat.-%.

According to the invention, the component sodium should preferably be present in a proportion of at least 1 cat.-%, further preferably at least 1.5 cat.-%, more preferably at least 2 cat.-% in the glass. Preferably, a content of at most 5 cat.-%, further preferably at most 4 cat.-% should not be exceeded. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the content of sodium in the glass does not exceed a value of 3 cat.-%. This ensures that the formation of disilicates is mostly prevented.

As mentioned in the beginning, the glasses of the invention do not only contain silicon and crystal-agonists but also at least one agent from the group of crystal-antagonists. According to the invention, preferred crystal-antagonists are aluminum (Al³⁺), boron (B³⁺) and zinc (Zn²⁺) as well as tin (Sn²⁺) and/or antimony (Sb³⁺). The crystal-antagonists serve for inhibiting formation of crystals or nuclei. If no crystal-antagonists were added, the glass would crystallize very fast. Potentially, no glass would be obtained at all. According to the present invention, the content of the crystal-antagonists should preferably be at least 2 cat.-%, more preferably at least 2.5 cat.-%, particularly preferably at least 3.5 cat.-%. For not inhibiting crystal formation too much, the content of the crystal-antagonists is preferably restricted to at most 9 cat.-%, further preferred are at most 8 cat.-% and more preferably at most 7.5 cat.-%. In particularly preferred embodiments, the content is restricted to at most 5.5 cat.-%.

Among the crystal-antagonists aluminum is preferably the main component, which means that the component aluminum is present in the glass with regard to the molar amounts in a higher proportion than the remaining crystal-antagonists, in particular than the components boron and zinc. This has the advantage that aluminum does not hinder the formation of metasilicates when it is used in limited amounts. For this purpose, according to the present invention preferably at least 2 cat.-%, more preferably at least 3 cat.-% and particularly preferably at least 3.5 cat.-% aluminum are used. Aluminum decreases the devitrification sensitivity. However, the amount of aluminum used should also not be too high because this on the other hand could lead to formation of spodumene mixed crystals. Furthermore, aluminum increases the melting point of the glass, which has to be balanced by use of larger amounts of alkali ions. For this reason, the component aluminum should be used in amounts that preferably do not exceed 8 cat.-%, more preferably 7 cat.-%, further preferably 6 cat.-% and particularly preferably 5 cat.-%. In particularly preferred embodiments, the amount of aluminum is restricted to at most 4.5 cat.-%.

Because the recommendable amount of aluminum is restricted due to the risk of formation of other crystal phases, it may be necessary to use further crystal-antagonists. Thereby particularly boron and zinc come into consideration. The invention comprises both glasses, which contain boron but no zinc, or zinc but no boron, as well as such glasses that comprise these both components in combination. Therein it is preferred that the amount of boron is strongly restricted. Background is that boron shows a very strong effect on crystallization tendency. If too much boron is used, the crystallization tendency is very much decreased. For this reason boron is preferably used in amounts that do not exceed 3 cat.-%. Further preferably this component should not be used in amounts that are larger than 1.5 cat.-% and particularly preferably not larger than 0.5 cat.-%, in particular not larger than 0.35 cat.-%. A minimum amount of boron may however be advisable. According to the invention, this is preferably at least 0.05 cat.-%, further preferably at least 0.1 cat.-% and particularly preferably 0.2 cat.-%.

Zinc can serve as crystal-antagonist additionally or alternatively to boron. If both zinc and boron are used, the amount of zinc should be higher than the amount of boron with regard to the molar proportions of the cations. Preferably, the amount of zinc is even at least 1.5 times as high as the molar proportion of boron, however in particular not higher than 2.5 times as high. In preferred embodiments the glass comprises zinc in an amount of at least 0.2 cat.-%, further preferred at least 0.3 cat.-% and particularly preferred at least 0.45 cat.-%. Zinc prevents the undesired reduction of silver and thus the uncontrolled formation of nuclei by removal of terminal oxygen in the glass. However, if too much zinc is used, crystallization tendency decreases stronger than desired. Therefore, the amount of zinc should be at most 2.5 cat.-%, further preferred at most 1.5 cat.-% and particularly preferred at most 0.8 cat.-%.

In addition to the indicated components also antimony (Sb³⁺) and tin (Sn²⁺) may serve as crystal-antagonists. Tin and antimony serve as reducing agents, which provide for a particularly fine distribution of the nuclei-source in the glass. This effect occurs in particular at low amounts of these components. For the component tin the proportion is preferably below 0.1 cat.-%. Preferably, the glass is even free of tin.

The preferred amount of antimony in the glass is restricted to at most 0.4 cat.-%, further preferably at most 0.2 cat.-%. The inventors found out that the transmittance in the UV region is surprisingly increased at low proportions of antimony in the glass. Thereby the UV-light, which is used for irradiation, can enter deeper into the glass so that a deeper structure depth can be achieved. Thus, via the antimony-content also the extent of absorption in the UV-region and thereby the achievable depth of light exposure can be adapted independent of the cerium-content. Particularly preferably the proportion of antimony in the glass is restricted to at most 0.19 cat.-%, further preferably to at most 0.18 cat.-%, even further preferably to at most 0.17 cat.-%. The positive effects of a low antimony-content can also be inferred from the results of example 6. However, preferably at least 0.02 cat.-%, further preferably at least 0.05 cat.-%, further preferably at least 0.08 cat.-%, further preferably at least 0.09 cat.-%, further preferably at least 0.1 cat.-% and particularly preferably at least 0.15 cat.-% are used for a particularly fine distribution of the nuclei-source in the glass. In an alternative embodiment, the glass is free of antimony.

Via an advantageous selection of the antimony-content a glass may be obtained, whose transmittance value at 260 nm and a sample thickness of 1 mm is preferably at least 1.2%, further preferably at least 1.5%, further preferably at least 1.8%, further preferably at least 2%, further preferably at least 2.5%. Furthermore, when the antimony-content is advantageously selected, the light exposure time, which is necessary for achieving sufficient crystallization at a light exposure dose preferred according to the present invention is at most 15 minutes, at most 10 minutes, further preferred at most 5 minutes. Via an advantageous selection of the antimony-content according to the present invention a glass may preferably be obtained, at which upon light exposure with UV-light a light exposure depth of at least 1 mm, further preferred at most 2 mm, further preferred at most 2.5 mm, further preferred at most 3 mm, further preferred at most 4 mm, even further preferred 5 mm may be achieved.

As indicated at the beginning the glass of the invention comprises at least one pair of nucleating agents in addition to silicon, crystal-agonists and crystal-antagonists. The pair of nucleating agents on the other hand comprises a nuclei-source, which is preferably selected from silver, gold and copper as well as a reducing agent, which is cerium according to the present invention. Silver is preferred as nuclei-source. The roles that these two components play in the pair of nucleating agents can be inferred from equation I exemplarily presented above for the pair of nucleating agents cerium and silver. In summary, it is about that the reducing agent reduces the cations of the nuclei-source to metal, whereby in the glass nuclei are formed, which in turn shall enable crystal formation.

It is preferred according to the invention that the amount of nuclei-source in the glass of the invention is comparably high. Background is that many small finely distributed nuclei lead to a finer crystal arrangement than a smaller number of nuclei in the same glass volume. For this reason the amount of nuclei-source in the glass, which is preferably silver ions, should have a proportion of at least 0.001 cat.-%. Further preferably this proportion is at least 0.01 cat.-%, more preferably at least 0.03 cat.-%, particularly preferably at least 0.05 cat.-%. However, if the amount of nuclei-source is chosen too high, nuclei formation or precipitation of elemental metal, respectively, possibly occurs already during melting. This has to be prevented by all means because precipitated metal droplets are firstly not available for nuclei formation in the glass and secondly the glass does not have the optical quality that is necessary. Furthermore, elemental metal droplets impair the transmittance properties of the glass for example by light scattering. Therefore, the amount of nuclei-source in the glass of the invention is preferably restricted to at most 0.5 cat.-% or at most 0.2 cat.-%, further preferred at most 0.1 cat.-% and particularly preferred at most 0.08 cat.-%. In preferred embodiments the glass is free of gold and/or copper.

As explained it is desirable to achieve a large number of nuclei in a given volume after light exposure; however, the nuclei shall be formed only in the light exposed areas. Because of the reaction equation presented above it may be sufficient for this purpose to choose the proportion of nuclei-source as high as possible. However, it may also be necessary to perform the sensitization and to adjust the proportion of Ce³⁺ to the amount of nuclei-source used. According to the invention it is therefore preferred that the molar ratio of nuclei-source to cerium (total amount Ce³⁺ and Ce⁴⁺) in the glass of the invention is at most 10, further preferred at most 7, more preferred at most 6.5 and particularly preferred at most 5.8. A larger amount of nuclei-source may increase the problems at the production without considerably improving the fine crystallinity. However, the ratio should of course not be too low so that the amount of formed nuclei is sufficient for enabling achievement of particularly fine structures in the photo-structurable glass.

Because of the simplified process management during production of the glasses of the invention in comparison to the prior art the amount of cerium in the glass can be chosen comparably high. Eventually cerium will be present to a certain degree in oxidation state 4+ due to the relatively oxidizing melting procedure. Thereby the undesired nuclei formation is suppressed during the manufacturing to a certain degree. At the same time, just as the amount of cerium, the amount of nuclei-source can be chosen relatively high for achieving a fine crystal arrangement, which in turn enables a particularly fine structuring.

The amount of cerium (as sum of Ce³⁺ and Ce⁴⁺) in the glass of the invention is accordingly preferably at least 0.001 cat.-%, further preferably at least 0.005 cat.-%, more preferably at least 0.008 cat.-% and particularly preferably at least 0.01 cat.-%. The glasses of the invention shall be photo-structurable. This means that they, after exposure to UV-light of a certain wave-length and a subsequent tempering step, can be selectively crystallized and subsequently structured (etched). However, the proportion of cerium in the glass of the invention must not be increased at will because thereby indeed the photo-sensitivity would be increased, however also the transmissibility of the UV-light of relevant wavelength would be suppressed. Eventually, for light exposure of the glasses of the invention (as in the prior art) UV-light of a wave-length is used, at which Ce³⁺ is absorbing. Thus, if the content of Ce³⁺ in the glass of the invention is very high, it cannot be light exposed in any desired depth. This reduces the maximally achievable structure depth. For this reason the content of cerium in the glass is preferably restricted to at most 0.3 cat.-% or at most 0.2 cat.-%, further preferred at most 0.1 cat.-%, more preferred at most 0.05 cat.-% and particularly preferred at most 0.025 cat.-%. In order for the desired effect according to equation I to occur, cerium should be present in the glass of the invention in an amount of at least 0.001 cat.-%, in particular at least 0.005 cat.-% and particularly preferred even at least 0.08 cat.-% or 0.01 cat.-%. In the prior art it was tried to achieve the crystallization susceptibility by reduction of the amount of nuclei former. This definitely works, however the photo-sensitivity of the glasses is thereby restricted so much that structuring is strongly impeded.

Preferably, the molar content of nuclei-source in the glass is at least twice as high as the content of cerium, further preferably the molar ratio of nuclei-source to cerium is at least 2.2, more preferably at least 2.5 and particularly preferably at least 3 and in particular at least 4.5. Advantages at crystallization arise from a balanced ratio of nuclei-source, in particular silver, to cerium. At presence of a relatively larger amount of nuclei-source more nuclei are formed, which in turn leads to smaller crystals. The content of cerium relative to nuclei-source is rather small according to the invention because no particularly large amount of this component is necessary for nuclei formation due to the sensitization. However, the indicated ratio of silver to cerium should not exceed a certain value because otherwise the relative amount of cerium is not sufficient for inducing sufficient formation of nuclei.

In special embodiments it may be reasonable to further restrict the ratio of nuclei-source to cerium. This is the case in particular when only a smaller structure depth can be achieved by UV light exposure. An increase in the achievable structure depth can on the one hand indeed be achieved by reduction of the cerium-content as described above. However, it was surprisingly found that also without reduction of the cerium-content an increased structure depth can be achieved if a lower ratio of nuclei-source to cerium is chosen. This can be reasonable in comparison to a reduction of the cerium-content because thereby there is still enough Ce³⁺ available as reducing agent for Ag⁺ even at a relatively oxidizing melting procedure and consequently a relatively high Ce⁴⁺/Ce³⁺ ratio due to the relatively high total content of cerium. In such an embodiment the ratio of nuclei-source to cerium in the glass of the present invention is preferably at most 5.5, further preferably at most 5.2, particularly preferably at most 4.9.

The list of glass components as indicated herein is not conclusive. Thus, the glass of the invention may contain further components not mentioned herein. However, in preferred embodiments with regard to the cations the glass of the invention consists to an extent of at least 90 cat.-% of the components mentioned herein. In further preferred embodiments, the glass of the invention consists to at least 95 cat.-%, further preferred at least 97 cat.-%, more preferred at least 99 cat.-% of the components mentioned herein. In a particularly preferred embodiment the glass of the invention consists to 100 cat.-% of the components discussed herein.

Preferably, the glass is free of molecular hydrogen (H₂). Molecular hydrogen can lead to formation of atomic silver and thus to nuclei formation independent of irradiation.

If it is indicated in this description that the glass does not contain a certain component or is free of a certain component, then it is meant that this component is not added to the glass intentionally. This does not exclude that this component is possibly present in the glass as impurity. Impurities shall typically and preferably not exceed a proportion of 0.1% by weight of the glass, further preferred not more than 100 ppm, more preferably not more than 10 ppm, even more preferred not more than 1 ppm shall be present. In a preferred embodiment, the thus indicated components are present in the glass of the invention at most in an amount that is below the detection limit.

A preferable glass of the invention comprises the following components in cat.-%:

Si⁴⁺ 45 to 65 Crystal-agonists 30 to 45 Crystal-antagonists 3.5 to 9

In a preferred embodiment the glass of the invention comprises the following components in cat.-%:

Si⁴⁺ 45 to 65 Crystal-agonists Li⁺ 25 to 40 K⁺ 0 to 8 Na⁺ 0 to 8 Crystal-antagonists B³⁺ 0 to 5 Al³⁺ 0 to 10 Zn²⁺ 0 to 4 Sb³⁺ 0 to 0.4 Nuclei-source Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ >0 to 0.3 Ag⁺ >0 to 0.5

In addition to cations the glass of the invention also comprises anions, which are preferably selected from the group consisting of O²⁻, F⁻, Br⁻, Cl⁻ and SO₄ ²⁻. The molar proportion of O²⁻ with regard to the anions should preferably be at least 50% (anion-%), further preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 98% and particularly preferably at least 99%. In a preferred embodiment the glass is entirely oxidic, it thus contains only O²⁻ as anions and is free of other anions.

The glass of the invention preferably comprises only small amounts of halides. It is preferred that the content of halides among the anions is restricted to at most 5 anion-%, further preferably at most 3 anion-% and more preferably at most 1 anion-%. Halides are understood according to the invention as the anions of CI, F and Br. In particular embodiments the glass is free of anions of Cl, F and/or Br or comprises these components in proportions of preferably not more than 3 anion-%, 2 anion-% or 1 anion-% each.

The glass of this invention preferably comprises essentially no colloidal silver prior to irradiation with UV-light. The silver preferably present in the glass is in particular present prior to irradiation in form of Ag⁺ in a proportion of at least 95%, further preferred at least 99%.

The glass of this invention should preferably not contain more than 5 cat.-% T⁴⁺ (titanium). Titanium impairs transmittance of the glasses in the UV region, which negatively affects the achievable structure depth. Preferably, the content of titanium is restricted to at most 3 cat.-%, further preferred at most 1 cat.-%. Preferred embodiments comprise titanium in amounts of less than 0.2 cat.-% or are free of titanium.

The glass of the invention is preferably free of components not mentioned herein, in particular of cations of Fe, Ni, Co, La, Nb, W, Hf, Bi, Y, Yb, Pb, As, Ta, Gd and/or Eu.

It turned out to be advantageous to restrict the content of alkaline earth metal cations in the glass of the invention, in particular to up to 10 cat.-%, preferably up to 5 cat.-%, more preferably up to 2 cat.-%. In particularly preferred embodiments the glass comprises at most 1 cat.-% of alkaline earth metal cations or is even free of these. Alkaline earth metal cations are preferably understood according to the invention as Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Ba²⁺ and Sr²⁺. In special embodiments the glass is free of Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Ba²⁺ and/or Sr²⁺ or comprises these components in proportions of preferably not more than 3 cat.-%, 2 cat.-% or 1 cat.-% each. In preferred embodiments the glass is free of barium.

In one embodiment the glasses of the present invention may either be cooled relatively slowly during cooling of the melt or they may after fast cooling of the melt once more be heated to the temperature T1 and may slowly be cooled from there to the temperature T2 in a post-processing step. In the context of this invention we call these alternative optional process steps “sensitization”.

Sensitization is characterized by the glass being cooled from the initial temperature T1 to the target temperature T2. Thereby the initial temperature T1 is in a range that allows diffusion of ions in the glass to a certain extent, this is a temperature range, which is at least above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass, in particular at least 25° C. above T_(g). By controlled, slow cooling from T1 to T2, the cooling state of the glass may be adjusted. Only at reaching the target temperature T2, which is at least 150° C. below T1, the viscosity in the glass is preferably again so high that no further diffusion and no further change of the cooling state of the glass occurs anymore.

In preferred embodiments the initial temperature T1 is at least 400° C., further preferably at least 425° C., more preferably at least 450° C. and particularly preferably at least 475° C.

A certain minimum temperature is necessary for enabling the adjustment of the cooling state. Therefore, T1 has to be above T_(g) of the glass. In preferred embodiments T1 is at least 25° C., further preferred at least 40° C. above T_(g). However, at too high temperatures the crystallization tendency increases so that a too high temperature T1 may lead to crystallization. Therefore, T1 preferably does not exceed a value of 1000° C., further preferably 800° C., more preferably 600° C. and particularly preferably 550° C. In particularly preferred embodiments is T1=500° C. T1 is preferably below the softening temperature of the glass, in particular at least 100° C. below the softening temperature.

Temperature T2 is at least 150° C. below T1. T2 is preferably below T_(g) of the glass. In preferred embodiments T2 is at least 20° C., further preferred at least 100° C., more preferred at least 200° C. and particularly preferred at least 220° C. In order that the ion mobility at T2 decreases again to a negligibly small value it is preferred that T2 is at most 400° C., further preferred at most 350° C., more preferred at most 300° C. In a particularly preferred embodiment is T2=240° C.

In one embodiment, the sensitization performed leads to the cooling state described herein. For that the sensitization may comprise cooling of the glass either from the melt or as post-processing on a glass article. According to one embodiment the glass may for example be cooled from the melt to T1 or a glass article is heated to T1, and afterwards it is cooled to T2. Subsequently, the glass may be cooled from T2 to room temperature if applicable.

In an embodiment the glass may be cooled during sensitization steadily from temperature T1 to T2. “Steadily” means therein that it is cooled continuously from T1 to T2 without maintaining the glass at certain temperature levels. In particular therewith is meant a cooling with essentially constant cooling rate. As far as it is further cooled from T2 to room temperature also this further cooling can occur steadily. Room temperature is preferably 20° C.

In another embodiment the glass may pass through different cooling stages during sensitization. Thereby the glass may be preferably cooled from temperature T1 to a temperature T1.1, then to a temperature T1.2 and so on. Thereby it is preferred that the glass is cooled via at least 2 intermediate stages, in particular at least 3 and particularly preferred at least 4 intermediate stages to temperature T2. However, preferably it is cooled via at most 7, further preferred at most 6 and particularly preferred at most 5 intermediate stages. In such an embodiment the glass may be cooled by passing through at least one cooling furnace. This enables a continuous processing. Sensitization may occur in such a way that the glass is lead through zones of different temperatures for ensuring the cooling. Therein this way of cooling means optionally but not necessarily that also the temperature of the glass is kept at the temperature of the respective stage. Rather, the temperature of the glass within a temperature stage may slowly adapt to the temperature of this stage and then be moved into the next stage. This may be implemented as a cooling sequence by use of temperature zones on a cooling line.

When passing through different cooling stages, the glass is preferably kept for 10 to 40 minutes at a given temperature stage. The temperature stages preferably have a distance of at least 5° C. and in particular at least 10° C. and in particular at most 50° C. Thereby the glass does not necessarily reach the temperature of the respective stage before it is transferred to the next temperature stage.

In one embodiment the sensitization of the glass of the invention may thus occur either directly from the melt, the initial temperature T1 is thus then reached by cooling of the glass from the melt, or the sensitization takes place as separate post-processing step, as the glass is re-heated to the initial temperature T1 and then controlledly cooled to T2.

Sensitization as an optional post-processing step has the advantage that the glass may be subjected prior to sensitization to other processing steps, as for example hot forming processes, which would be hardly possible otherwise due to the crystallization tendency. Prior to sensitization the crystallization tendency of the glass of the invention may not be so pronounced as after the sensitization.

For example, the glass of the invention may initially be melted and then quickly cooled from the melt. Such cooled glass may then be drawn in a redrawing method without crystallizing. The redrawn glass element may then be sensitized prior to light exposure.

When sensitization is discussed herein, this always means a processing step that occurs prior to the light exposure of the glass. The heat treatment step after light exposure is herein called “tempering” in agreement with the literature.

In one embodiment the cooling state of the glass of the invention is adjusted by the sensitization. Thereby also the density of the glass approaches the density of the underlying crystal system. The glass is getting denser. This relates to both the mass density and the index of refraction. The glasses of the invention preferably have a refractive index η_(d) at 546.1 nm and 25° C. of at least 1.500 and preferably at most 1.600. Furthermore, the glasses preferably have a mass density ρ of at least 2.35 g/cm³, further preferred at least 2.36 g/cm³. In preferred embodiments the density is less than 2.4 g/cm³ and preferably less than 2.39 g/cm³. High density results in formation of smaller crystallites after light exposure and tempering due to suppressed diffusion of the crystal components, however, the closer the density approaches the density of the crystals, the higher is also the risk of undesired, non-selective crystallization. If not indicated otherwise or automatically evident for the skilled person, measurements herein are performed at a temperature of 25° C. and an air pressure of 101.325 kPa.

The glasses of the invention preferably have a softening point of at least 600° C., in particular at least 650° C. Preferably, the softening point is at most 750° C. and in particular at most 700° C.

As described above, the glass of the invention is melted in a comparably oxidizing way. Thereby the component cerium is also present in its tetravalent oxidation state. However, the tetravalent oxidation state does not participate in the above described reaction (equation I) of nuclei formation. Apparently, the proportion of cerium in the trivalent oxidation state increases in the glass of the invention by the sensitization. Ce³⁺ absorbs at about 314 nm, thus in the UV. In order for the glass to form a high number of nuclei upon light exposure, it is preferred according to the invention, that the glass of the invention has a transmittance of not more than 50% at a wavelength of 314 nm and a thickness of 1 mm.

Particularly preferably, the transmittance at 314 nm and a thickness of 1 mm is not more than 40%, further preferred not more than 39%. Nevertheless, the absorption at this wavelength should not be too high so that the UV radiation may enter the glass deep enough for achieving deep structures. In this respect the transmittance at 314 nm and a thickness of 1 mm should preferably be at least 10%, further preferred at least 20%, more preferred at least 25% or at least 30% and particularly preferred at least 35%. The transmittance is in particular the internal transmittance, thus the transmittance of the glass without influences of reflections. The transmittance of an example glass is shown in FIG. 4 in dependence from the wavelength.

In order for this to be achieved, it is preferred according to the invention, that the amount of cerium in the glass of the invention is restricted. The content of cerium should be selected depending on the thickness of the glass. In preferred embodiments, the content of cerium in the glass of the invention is restricted to an amount of at most 4×10⁻³cat.-% per millimeter glass thickness. Further preferred is a value of at most 3×10⁻³cat.-% per millimeter glass thickness. However, in order for the amount of cerium being sufficient for triggering the particularly advantageous formation of nuclei, a minimum amount of cerium of at least 2×10⁻³cat.-% per millimeter glass thickness should be set up. Preferably, the glass of the invention is present with a thickness of at least 1 mm, further preferred at least 3 mm and particularly preferred at least 5 mm. However, the thickness preferably does not exceed a value of 20 mm, further preferably 15 mm.

The method of the invention for producing the glasses of the invention comprises the following steps:

-   -   a. Mixing the respective raw materials for obtaining a mixture,     -   b. Melting the mixture for obtaining a melt,     -   c. Solidifying the melt for obtaining a glass.

It is an advantage of the glasses of the invention that they are producible in a continuous production method. Preferably, melting of the mixture occurs in a vessel. From there the glass melt preferably reaches a refining vessel, where a refining step takes place. From the refining vessel the glass melt preferably reaches a crucible, in particular a platinum crucible, which may have a stirrer. The glass melt is homogenized in the crucible. By stirring a particularly high homogeneity can be achieved.

In a preferred embodiment, the glass melt may get from the crucible into a drawing vessel. Subsequently, for example a down draw, new down draw or overflow fusion process may be conducted. In any case, the product is a thin glass with fire-polished surfaces.

Fire-polished surfaces are normally characterized by an extremely low roughness. Therefore, the surface of the glasses of the present invention preferably has a roughness Ra of less than 5 nm, further preferred less than 2 nm, further preferred less than 1.5 nm, further preferred less than 1 nm, further preferred less than 0.8 nm, further preferred less than 0.5 nm, further preferred less than 0.2 nm, more preferred less than 0.1 nm. Preferably, roughness is measured with an optical profilometer.

In case of down draw, the glass exits via a slit in the bottom of the drawing vessel, which is equipped with sword-shaped leading elements in case of new down draw. In case of overflow fusion, the glass exits via the upper rims of the drawing vessel and runs down the outer walls of the vessel. These methods are known to the skilled person.

In accordance with the invention is thus in particular a method for producing a glass of the invention comprising the steps

-   -   a. Producing a glass melt,     -   b. Transferring the melt into a drawing vessel,     -   c. Allowing the melt to exit the drawing vessel,     -   d. Drawing the exiting melt to a glass sheet, and     -   e. Cooling the glass sheet,         wherein the melt at the time of exiting the drawing vessel         preferably has a temperature that is above 1000° C.

Alternatively, the melt can be removed from the crucible for solidification. In an embodiment, the glass is formed subsequent melting but prior to solidification. In such an alternative embodiment the glass melt preferably gets into a mold via an outlet. In the mold the glass solidifies into a blank (for example a glass bar). Alternatively, a glass article may be produced from the glass of the invention by pressing or rolling. A thus produced glass article may then be cut with a cutting process, in particular by sawing, into glass wafers that subsequently may be ground and/or polished. A particularly preferred cutting process is wire-sawing, in particular multi-wire-sawing, for example Multi-Wire-Slice (MWS). Preferred cutting material is steel wire. In preferred embodiments the internal medium between raw glass and steel wire is emery. In such embodiments, the particle size of the internal medium is preferably in the range between 100 and 300 US standard mesh, more preferred in the range between 150 and 250 US standard mesh, more preferred about 200 US standard mesh. Preferably, the cutting speed is in the range between 2 and 20 mm/hour, more preferred between 4 and 15 mm/hour, even more preferred between 6 and 10 mm/hour. If the cutting speed is very low, cutting is not very efficient. If the cutting speed is very high, the glass may break or the cutting wire may be torn apart.

Preferably, the cut glass wafers, optionally after grinding and polishing, have total thickness variations (TTV) of at most 30 μm, further preferred at most 20 μm, further preferred at most 15 μm, further preferred at most 10 μm, further preferred at most 8 μm, further preferred at most 5 μm in an area of 325 cm². Of course, the indicated TTV is preferably all the more reached in smaller areas, as for example in an area of 180 cm².

The above described optional sensitization of the glass may either take place during a forming process (pressing, down draw, overflow fusion), as cooling of the formed glass takes place according to the process step of sensitization as described above, or initially quickly cooled glass bodies are produced, which are subsequently subjected to a process step of sensitization. For example the glass melt may initially be cast into molds and quickly cooled there. Subsequently, the thus obtained blanks may be subjected to further hot forming via a redrawing method. Sensitization may then take place in this redrawing method. The glass article is preferably not a laminate. The glass article preferably completely consists of the glass described herein and in particular does not consist of ceramic or glass ceramic.

With the continuous production method glasses with particular high homogeneity can be obtained because the occurrence of striae can be reduced drastically. Particularly small fluctuations with regard to the transmittance, the density and the index of refraction result from such high homogeneity. Preferably, the glass is so homogeneous that at a wavelength of 260 nm and/or 280 nm the standard deviation of the transmittance is at most 15%, further preferred at most 10%, further preferred at most 7%, further preferred at most 5%, further preferred at most 4%, further preferred at most 3%, even further preferred at most 2%, particularly preferred at most 1%, even further preferred at most 0.8%, even further preferred at most 0.5%, even further preferred at most 0.4%, even further preferred at most 0.2% of the respective mean value of transmittance, wherein mean value and standard deviation are determined from at most 100, preferably at most 60, further preferred at most 40, further preferred at most 30 independent measured values. Preferably, mean value and standard deviation are determined from at least 5 independent measured values, more preferably from at least 10 independent measured values, more preferably from at least 15 independent measured values. In preferred embodiments, mean value and standard deviation are determined from 50 independent measured values, more preferably from 40 independent measured values. The independent measured values are obtained by measuring transmittance on different positions of the glass. Preferably, the distance between any two neighboring measuring positions is at least 0.1 mm, more preferably at least 0.5 mm, more preferably at least 1 mm, more preferably at least 5 mm, even more preferably at least 10 mm. The skilled person knows how to determine the standard deviation based on a group of measured values. The standard deviation corresponds to the square root of the sum of the squared deviations of the individual measured values from the mean value of the measured values, wherein the sum is divided by the number of measured values minus one prior to square rooting.

The transmittance value at 260 nm and a sample thickness of 1 mm is preferably at least 0.2%, further preferred at least 0.5%, further preferred at least 1%, further preferred at least 1.2%, further preferred at least 1.5%, further preferred at least 1.8%, further preferred at least 2%, further preferred at least 2.5%. Preferably, the transmittance value at 260 nm and a sample thickness of 1 mm is at most 5%, further preferred at most 4%, further preferred at most 3.5%, further preferred at most 3%. The transmittance value a 280 nm and a sample thickness of 1 mm is preferably at least 8%, further preferred at least 9%, further preferred at least 10%, further preferred at least 11%, further preferred at least 12%, further preferred at least 13%, further preferred at least 15%, further preferred at least 16%. Preferably, the transmittance value at 280 nm and a sample thickness of 1 mm is at most 30%, further preferred at most 25%, further preferred at most 20%.

It is remarkable that even at wavelengths of 260 nm and 280 nm preferably such low fluctuations of transmittance can be achieved because this is exactly where the UV-edge is and thus generally higher standard deviations would be expected. Moreover, these wavelengths are at least slightly overlapping with the absorption region of Ce³⁺ so that the small fluctuations of transmittance are a good indicator for the homogeneous distribution within the glass.

Measurement of transmittance can preferably be used for quality testing of the glasses because only small deviations occur in the transmittance values. Furthermore, due to the possibility of improved optical focusing the small fluctuations of the index of refraction preferably enable a light exposure of the glass article not only at its surface or in surface-near regions but also deep inside the glass article via a respectively focused laser. The high homogeneity of the glasses preferably also causes that more homogeneous etching rates are present during the etching process, which in turn may result in more precisely obtainable structures due to a reduction of etching errors. Moreover, by a more homogeneous etching rate preferably also the occurrence of etching-caused striae is reduced. The very low-striae manufacturing facilitates the applicability of the indicated methods.

Due to the production in a continuous process not only the above described homogeneity within a glass piece is increased but also the homogeneity between different batches.

For adjusting the redox state of the glass melt the used raw materials are important. The following list indicates the respectively preferably used raw materials for adjusting suitable melting conditions. However, the skilled person is also familiar with other measures for adjusting the redox conditions of the melt. For example, in an embodiment of the invention oxidizing gases may be conducted into the melt (bubbling). Furthermore, the temperature of the melt is important for the redox state. In particular, high melting temperatures result in reducing melting conditions.

Glass component Preferred raw material Si⁴⁺ Sand Crystal-agonists Li⁺ Lithium carbonate K⁺ Potash Na⁺ Soda, sodium sulfate, sodium antimonate Crystal-antagonists B³⁺ Boron trioxide Al³⁺ Aluminum hydroxide Zn²⁺ Zinc oxide Sb³⁺ Sodium hexahydroxidoantimonate Nuclei-former Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ Cerium oxide Ag⁺ Silver oxide, silver nitrate

Depending on the desired composition of anions in the glass of the invention, also the respective halides may be used. It is however preferred according to the invention that the glasses comprise as little proportions of halides as possible.

The invention also comprises a method for photo-structuring a glass of the invention. The method of photo-structuring comprises in particular the steps of light exposure, tempering and structuring of a glass article, which comprises the glass of the invention and in particular consists thereof. The light exposure preferably occurs at a wavelength, which essentially corresponds to the absorption maximum of Ce³⁺ in the glass of the invention. This wavelength is in the UV, in particular in the region between 300 nm and 320 nm, in particular at 310 nm. During light exposure, regions that are not to be light exposed are preferably covered with a mask.

The dose of UV light exposure has to be high enough for ensuring a sufficient photostructuring. The UV light exposure preferably takes place with a dose of more than 0.1 J/cm². Further preferred the dose is at least 1 J/cm², further preferred at least 3 J/cm², further preferred at least 5 J/cm², further preferred at least 7 J/cm², even further preferred at least 10 J/cm². However, the dose should also not be too high. Preferably, the dose is at most 100 J/cm², further preferred at most 50 J/cm², even further preferred at most 25 J/cm².

Preferably the light exposure time, which is necessary for a sufficient crystallization at a dose preferred according to the invention, is at most 20 minutes, further preferred at most 15 minutes, further preferred at most 10 minutes, further preferred at most 5 minutes.

In a preferred embodiment the light exposure takes place with a laser. Preferably, the laser is a pulsed laser. Preferably, the laser is a nanosecond-laser, further preferred a picosecond-laser, even further preferred a femtosecond-laser. Multi-photon absorption enables working with long wavelength in the visible range or more preferred even in IR-range, at which ranges the glass has a particular high transmittance so that it can be light exposed in great depths. The excitation of components in the UV-region, as for example Ce³⁺, occurs in such embodiments preferably very predominantly in the regions onto which the laser is focused. Very particularly preferably, the laser is a titanium:sapphire-femtosecond-laser. Light exposure with a laser preferably additionally enables generation of particularly fine structures and/or structures being particularly deep inside the glass article in the subsequent etching step.

The high homogeneity of the glasses produced according to the method of the present invention, in particular with regard to the transmittance and to the index of refraction, preferably enables a light exposure also in great depths within the glass article. The light exposure preferably occurs with a focused short-pulse laser or with a UV-source, for example a UV-lamp or a UV-burner. Preferably, the light exposure depth is at least 0.5 mm, further preferred at least 1 mm, further preferred at least 2 mm, further preferred at least 5 mm, further preferred at least 10 mm, further preferred at least 15 mm, further preferred at least 20 mm. Preferably, the light exposure depth is even up to 50 mm, further preferred up to 100 mm, further preferred up to 200 mm, further preferred up to 300 mm, further preferred up to 500 mm, further preferred up to 1000 mm, even further preferred up to 2500 mm. However, it has to be considered that the focus of the short-pulse laser is getting longer or blurred with increasing light exposure depth. Therefore, light exposure with a focused short-pulse laser should also not occur in too great depth. The light exposure depth is preferably determined via the depth of the light exposure dependent crystallization. The measurement is conducted for the side view. The glass article is exposed on its entire surface with the UV illumination. Then the glass article is tempered in order to crystallize the exposed parts. Then the sample is cut in half, and the cleaved part is inspected from the side. Preferably, immersion oil is used in order to avoid the necessity of polishing the cleaved surface. The exposure depth is then measured with a microscope. The border of crystallization can clearly be seen by this method.

Particularly preferably undercut structures may be generated. For this, preferably different UV-lasers are used, which differ with regard to the entering depth into the glass article. Hence, it can be light exposed in different depths with different doses. Because the actual structuring occurs in a subsequent etching step, preferably already two, further preferably even a single round of light exposure is sufficient so that high velocities of light exposure of preferably at least 1 m/s, more preferably at least 5 m/s, even more preferably at least 10 m/s can be achieved. Preferably, a wafer can be processed in less than 12 hours, more preferred less than 6 hours, more preferred less than 3 hours, more preferred less than 2 hours, more preferred less than 1 hour. By stepwise ceramization of an already structured element, preferably also predetermined breaking points can be generated.

The structures generated in the glasses of the present invention are characterized by their excellent position accuracy. An excellent position accuracy refers to a low position accuracy value. The glasses according to the invention may have a position accuracy value of less than or equal to 0.5% or 0.3%, preferably of less than or equal to 0.2%, more preferably of less than or equal to 0.15%, even more preferably of less than or equal to 0.1%, even more preferably of less than or equal to 0.01%. In an embodiment, the position accuracy value of the glasses according to the invention is not below 0.0001%

The position accuracy value is determined by comparing the desired position of a light exposed portion of the glass with its position after heat treatment as explained herein above and below. Heat treatment is also referred to as “tempering”.

In one embodiment the method of determining the position accuracy value comprises at least the following steps:

-   -   Providing a glass article;     -   placing a mask on the glass article;     -   exposing the glass article to UV-light;     -   tempering of the glass article;     -   structuring of the glass article;     -   determining the distance between light exposed portions and a         fixed-point; and     -   obtaining the position accuracy value.

In one embodiment, the glass article is a glass wafer.

The structuring of the light exposed glass article preferably occurs via etching, in particular with an HF-containing etching solution. The concentration of HF in the etching solution is preferably between 5% and 20% by weight in water. Particularly preferably the concentration of HF in the etching solution is 10% by weight. By the structuring structured glass bodies are obtained, which in comparison to the prior art have a better, at least however an equivalent structure with respect to the structure depth and to the aspect ratio.

The structure depth in the structured glass bodies, which are available with the glass according to the invention, is preferably up to 0.1 mm, further preferred up to 0.2 mm, more preferred up to 0.5 mm, more preferred up to 1mm, more preferred up to 2 mm, more preferred up to 3 mm, even more preferred up to 4 mm, very particularly preferred up to 5 mm. “Structure depth” is understood according to the invention as the height difference in the direction of etching between a crystallized region and a non-crystallized region.

“Aspect ratio” is understood according to the present invention as the ration between the depth of a structure and its width. Of course it is preferable when large aspect ratios are possible. With the glass of the present invention aspect ratios of up to 80 to 1, preferably up to 60 to 1, more preferably up to 50 to 1 and particularly preferably up to 40 to 1 can be achieved. Preferably, the achievable aspect ratio is at least 10 to 1, further preferred at least 15 to 1, further preferred at least 20 to 1.

The transmittance of the glass at the wavelength of light exposure should be as high as possible so that particularly large structure depths can be achieved. Therefore, the above indicated parameters with regard to transmittance should be observed when large structure depth is desired. For the transmittance at the wavelength of light exposure the amount of Ce³⁺ is important among others.

After light exposure and prior to structuring the glass bodies to be structured are preferably tempered. Tempering serves for inducing crystal formation around the nuclei formed during light exposure. For this purpose the glass article to be structured is heated to a temperature, which enables formation of crystals and which is in particular above the glass transition temperature of the glass. This temperature is preferably at least 400° C., further preferred at least 455° C., further preferred at least 500° C., further preferred at least 550° C. Furthermore, this temperature should preferably not exceed a value of 650° C., further preferred 600° C. and particularly preferred 580° C. Very particularly preferred this temperature is in a range of from 555° C. to 565° C., even more preferred the temperature is 560° C. Even though the etching ratio may be higher at high temperatures, the indicated preferred tempering temperatures are nonetheless preferred because crystallization may occur to a larger extend also in areas that were not light exposed in case the tempering temperature is very high. Furthermore, a certain holding time in this temperature range should be observed so that sufficient crystals of the desired size may form. The holding time is preferably at least 10 minutes. Generally not enough crystals form at a too low temperature or a too short holding time and the crystal growth is too strongly pronounced at too high temperature or too long holding time so that particular large crystals are obtained. Large crystals are disadvantageous because they lead to the structured surface having a comparably high roughness. Thus, small crystals are preferred. Particularly preferably, after the etching process the surface has a roughness Ra of less than 1000 nm, further preferred less than 100 nm, further preferred less than 50 nm, further preferred less than 20 nm, further preferred less than 10 nm, further preferred less than 5 nm, further preferred less than 3 nm, further preferred less than 1 nm. Preferably, the roughness is measured with a tactile profilometer. Particularly preferably, the roughness is measured with a Dektak XT™ stylus profiler by BRUKER.

The etching rate describes the removal from the surface of the glass article by the etching solution. The unit of the etching rate is μm/min. Structuring of the surface is achieved by the etching rate being higher in the regions that have before been light exposed with UV radiation than in the unexposed regions. Preferably, the etching rate in the unexposed regions is at most 5 μm/min, more preferably at most 2 μm/min, more preferably at most 1 μm/min, even more preferably at most 0.5 μm/min. In the light exposed regions the etching rate is preferably at least 10 μm/min, more preferably at least 20 μm/min, more preferably at least 30 μm/min, more preferably at least 40 μm/min, even more preferably at least 50 μm/min.

The etching ratio is the ratio of the etching rate in the light exposed regions to the etching rate in the unexposed regions. Preferably, the etching ratio is at least 10 to 1, more preferably at least 20 to 1, more preferably at least 30 to 1, more preferably at least 40 to 1, even more preferably at least 50 to 1.

Due to the sensitization of the glass according to one embodiment of the present invention in particular very pronounced crystal phases may be formed. Indeed in the light exposed regions it is not a pure ceramic but a mixture of glass and crystals (glass-ceramic). However, the proportion of crystals in this glass-ceramic phase is particularly high according to the invention. In the crystallized glass article of the present invention the proportion of crystals in the glass-ceramic phase is preferably at least 10 vol.-%, further preferred at least 20 vol.-%, more preferred at least 40 vol.-% and particularly preferred at least 60 vol.-%. However, the proportion of crystals in the glass-ceramic phase is smaller than 100 vol.-%. In one embodiment of the method of the invention for structuring of glass bodies, glass bodies are used, which have been formed before in a hot forming method. Examples for such hot forming methods, which are preferably used according to the present invention, are pressing, down draw, new down draw, overflow fusion and redrawing. Particularly preferred are down draw, new down draw and overflow fusion. These methods are known to the skilled person. However, they could not be performed with photo-structurable glasses of the prior art because all of these methods have to be performed at temperatures, which favor a crystallization of the glass. However, the glasses of the invention can be subjected to a hot forming process in an “insensitive” state and can be sensitized only subsequently. During hot forming the crystallization tendency of the glasses of the invention is not so pronounced that crystallization occurs. Only upon sensitization, which is described further above, the crystallization tendency is increased in such a way that photo-structuring becomes possible.

Consequently, a method preferred according to the invention comprises

-   -   initially melting the glass,     -   subsequently hot forming,     -   sensitization of the glass during hot forming or subsequently     -   and subsequently the structuring as described above.

A structured glass article, which has excellent properties with regard to durability, structure depth, aspect ratio and internal quality, is then obtained from the glass of the invention.

Particularly preferred structures are through holes. Through holes are holes that extend through the entire thickness of a glass article. Preferably, through holes have an essentially cylindrical shape, wherein the height of the cylinder corresponds to the thickness of the glass article. The diameter of a through hole is the largest distance of opposing rims of the hole when measured perpendicular to the height axis of the hole. The shape of the through holes may deviate from the cylindrical shape. For example, the through holes may have essentially cuboid shape. However, in any case the diameter of the through hole is defined as the largest distance of opposing rims of the hole when measured perpendicular to the height axis of the hole. Preferably, the through hole diameter is determined microscopically. In a preferred embodiment through holes with a diameter of at most 500 μm, further preferred at most 250 μm, further preferred at most 100 μm, further preferred of at most 50 μm, further preferred at most 35 μm, further preferred at most 30 μm, even further preferred at most 20 μm, even further preferred at most 10 μm can be obtained. Preferably, holes can be obtained, which are so close to each other that the distance of their centers has a value of at most 1.5-times the hole-diameter. Further preferably the distance is even only at most 1.3-times, further preferred at most 1.2-times, even further preferred at most 1.1-times the hole-diameter. Preferably, holes can be generated with such a precision that at a designed hole-diameter of 30 μm and a glass thickness of 500 μm the deviations from the designed hole-diameter are at most 30 μm, more preferably at most 15 μm, more preferably at most 10 μm, more preferably at most 5 μm, more preferably at most 2 μm, more preferably at most 1 μm, even more preferably at most 0.5 μm. Due to such a precision also the deviations of the diameter of individual through holes in a glass article of the invention at a designed hole-diameter of 30 μm and a glass thickness of 500 μm is preferably at most 30 μm, more preferably at most 15 μm, more preferably at most 10 μm, more preferably at most 5 μm, more preferably at most 2 μm, more preferably at most 1 μm, even more preferably at most 0.5 μm. Preferably, through holes with so low deviations from the designed hole-diameter may be obtained that the standard deviation from the designed hole-diameter is at most 5 μm, further preferably at most 3 μm, further preferably at most 2 μm, further preferably at most 1 μm, further preferably at most 0.5 μm, further preferably at most 0.2 μm, even further preferably at most 0.1 μm. Furthermore, at a designed hole-diameter of 30 μm and a glass thickness of 500 μm preferably through holes can be obtained, whose slope angle is smaller than 5°, more preferably smaller than 2°, even more preferably smaller than 1°, particularly preferably smaller than 0.5°. The slope angle describes the deviation of the longitudinal direction of the through holes from the perpendicular to the surface of the glass bodies.

In accordance with the invention is also a glass article that may be photo-structured and that is particularly thin because the glasses of the present invention are producible via hot forming methods, which enable production of particularly flat glass bodies. Such a glass article preferably has a thickness that is at most 10 mm, further preferred at most 5 mm, further preferred at most 2 mm, further preferred at most 1 mm, further preferred at most 500 μm, further preferred at most 300 μm. Such glass bodies have been available so far only by cutting and polishing. However, the surface qualities of the invention with regard to roughness of the glass article are not achievable by cutting and polishing. Moreover, cutting and polishing is an energy-intensive process that is accompanied by high costs.

The glasses of the invention can be applied in the field of micro-fluidics. For example, samples can be analyzed inside the photo-structured glass bodies. For this purpose it is advantageous when the glasses have a good transmissibility to infrared radiation. Using infrared radiation, different qualitative and quantitative microscopic detections can be performed. It is preferred according to the invention that the glasses of this invention have at a wavelength of 900 nm and a thickness of 1 cm a transmission of at least 70%.

Furthermore, the glasses are preferably also transparent in the region of visible light from 400 to 800 nm. This means preferably that the internal transmittance of the glass in the entire wavelength region from 400 nm to 800 nm at a thickness of 1 cm is always at least 85%, more preferred at least 90% and particularly preferred at least 95%.

The glasses of the present invention may be used structured and/or unstructured in different applications. Preferred in accordance with the invention is the use in components or as components

-   -   1. in micro-technology,     -   2. in micro-reaction-technology,     -   3. in electronic packaging,     -   4. for micro-fluidic components,     -   5. in or as FED spacer,     -   6. for bio-technology (for example titer plates),     -   7. as interposer,     -   8. in or as three-dimensional structurable antennae.

Preferably, glass bodies of the present invention may be used as substrates or glass circuit boards (GCB) in the fields of

-   -   a. microfluidics/biotechnology, for example         -   i. Lab-on-chip/Organ-on-chip,         -   ii. Micro Mixers,         -   iii. Micro Reactor,         -   iv. Printer head,         -   v. Titer plates,         -   vi. Chip electrophoresis,     -   b. semiconductors, for example         -   i. Logic/Integrated Circuits,         -   ii. Memory,         -   iii. Contact Image Sensor,         -   iv. Field emission display (FED) spacer,         -   v. Integrated Passive Device (IPD),         -   vi. Capacitors,         -   vii. Inductors,         -   viii. Resistors,     -   c. sensors, for example         -   i. Flow-/temperature-sensors,         -   ii. Gyroscopes/Accelerometers,     -   d. radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF/MEMS),         for example         -   i. Antenna,         -   ii. Capacitor,         -   iii. Filter/duplexer,         -   iv. Switches,         -   v. Oscillator,     -   e. Telecommunication for example         -   i. Optic alignment chips         -   ii. Optical waveguides         -   iii. Optical interconnects.

In accordance with the invention is also the use of the glass of the invention in a method for production of a structured glass article.

EXAMPLES

The following table shows the compositions in cat.-% of glasses of the invention. All of the presented glasses are oxidic, which means the proportion of anions that are not oxygen is at most 2 anion-%.

TABLE 1 Example glasses in cat.-% Component B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 Si⁴⁺ 59.6 52.1 60.4 53 60.1 K⁺ 3.8 5.6 3.4 3.78 4.08 Na⁺ 2.5 2.8 0.15 3.79 2.51 Ag⁺ 0.06 0.06 0.004 0.044 0.043 B³⁺ 0.26 0.94 0 0 0 Al³⁺ 3.8 5.14 4.27 6.05 3.86 Li⁺ 29.2 32.2 31.4 33.3 28.8 Σ(Ce⁴⁺, Ce³⁺) 0.011 0.01 0.003 0.007 0.005 Zn²⁺ 0.56 1.07 0.27 0 0.54 Sb³⁺ 0.17 0.12 0.07 0.118 0.13 Sum of the 99.96 100.04 99.97 100.09 100.07 components Li⁺/Si⁴⁺ 0.49 0.62 0.52 0.63 0.48 Σ(Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺) 35.5 40.6 34.95 40.9 35.4 Σ(Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺)/ 0.6 0.78 0.58 0.77 0.59 Si⁴⁺ Σ(B³⁺, Al³⁺, Zn²⁺) 4.6 7.2 4.5 6.1 4.4 Ag⁺/Σ(Ce⁴⁺, Ce³⁺) 5.45 6 1.33 6.3 8.6

Example 1

Glass B1 was produced with a thickness of 0.5 mm in a down draw method of the invention. By subsequent sensitization the glass was adjusted to a cooling state, which corresponds to a cooling from 500° C. to 240° C. with an average cooling rate of 80° C./h. At different positions of the glass the transmittance was measured at a wavelength of 280 nm. 40 measurements were performed and the mean value of the transmittance was at 31%. The glass was so homogeneous that the standard deviation of the transmittance was only about 0.4% of the mean value of transmittance.

The glass was light exposed with UV-light, which had a dose of 10 J/cm² at 320 nm. For generation of through holes with a diameter of 40 μm and a distance of the hole-centers of 60 μm, the regions not to be exposed were covered with a mask. Subsequently, the glass was tempered at a temperature of 580° C. for one hour. The etching step was done in a 10%

HF-solution at room temperature. The etching ratio was 50 to 1. Through holes with an average diameter of approximately 40 μm were obtained, wherein the standard deviation of the hole-diameter was less than 1 μm.

Example 2

The glass described in example 1 was light exposed as described in example 1. However, the tempering temperature was varied for investigating its influence on the etching rate. The highest etching ratio is obtained at a tempering temperature of 580° C.

Example 3

The glass described in example 1 was processed as described in example 1. However, the designed hole-diameter was varied. It turned out that the standard deviation is independent from the designed hole-diameter.

Example 4

Glass B2 was produced with a thickness of 1 mm in a down draw method of the invention. By subsequent sensitization the glass was adjusted to a cooling state, which corresponds to a cooling from 550° C. to 300° C. with a cooling rate of 40° C./h. The glass was so homogeneous that at 60 measurements at a wavelength of 280 nm the standard deviation of the transmittance was only about 0.5% of the respective transmittance value.

Example 5

A glass of the invention was divided into several pieces so that several samples were obtained. Some of the samples remained untreated and served as comparative examples, while other samples were subjected to a sensitization step. An increase in the transmittance at 280 nm was detected in the sensitized samples in comparison to the non-sensitized comparative examples. It was found that the increase in transmittance positively correlated with the level of the temperature T1 during sensitization.

Example 6

In order to determine the influence of antimony on the transmittance properties, two glasses of the invention were compared, which differed only with regard to the antimony-content. This was 0.15 cat.-% and 0.2 cat.-%, respectively. Transmittance was 1.2% at a wavelength of 260 nm at a 1 mm thick glass with the higher antimony-content. In contrast it was surprisingly found that transmission at 260 nm at a 1 mm thick glass with the lower antimony-content was 1.9%. By this increase of transmittance in the UV-region the light exposure time required for sufficient crystallization was reduced from 14 minutes in the glass with the higher antimony-content to 5 minutes in the glass with the lower antimony-content. At thicker glasses there was also an increase in the achievable structure depth from 1.7 mm in the glass with high antimony-content to 3 mm in the glass with the lower antimony-content.

Example 7

A glass of the invention was light exposed with an IR-femtosecond laser with a wavelength of 960 nm. The dose was 0.2 J/cm². The glass was so homogeneous that a focusing was possible in a depth of 20 mm. After 90 minutes of etching glass bodies with two entrance openings with a diameter of 500 μm and a depth of 20 mm each were obtained, which were connected by a channel with a diameter of 100 μm, which extended in a depth of 20 mm from one entrance-hole to the other entrance-hole.

Example 8

To evaluate the position accuracy of individual holes in a glass wafer according to the invention, a mask with a desired hole design was utilized. The wafer had a diameter of 100 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm. The pitch between adjacent holes in the hole pattern was 100 μm, the diameter of each hole 30 μm. The mask was made of quartz with a chromium layer to shield UV light. The thickness of the mask was 3 mm. The glass wafer according to the present invention was covered by the mask and light exposed with UV-light of 320 nm. The dose was 7.5 J/cm². The wafer was further subjected to a tempering step at 500° C. for 1 h. Subsequently, the glass wafer was etched using 10% HF and ultrasound treatment for 10 minutes at room temperature so that through-holes were formed.

A video measurement system of 2.5 dimensions, T-King EVS4030, was utilized to determine the distances of a fixed-point in the center of a circle and holes in the circumference of the fixed-point according to the measuring lay out as can be seen in FIG. 7. The position accuracy was calculated using formula (I) above.

Measuring of the changes in the distances at light exposed portions/holes at the center of the wafer or at its edge (see FIG. 7) resulted in comparable position accuracy values. This means that no significant differences between center and edge measurements were observed. This consistency in the measurement results indicates a high structural homogeneity of the glass. Measurements at the edge were taken with a distance of 14.6 mm from the edge of the wafer.

The following tables show the results of position accuracy measurements as described. The desing distance indicates the desired distance between the fixed-point and twelve values of distances of holes measured from the fixed point at the center and at the edge are indicated. The difference indicates the values measured at the center of the article. The values at the edge did not differ significantly. The position accuracy value was 0.08%.

Design distance/ Real distance/mm mm Center Edge Difference 35.355 35.384 35.384 0.08% 35.355 35.393 35.381 0.11% 35.355 35.385 35.396 0.08% 35.355 35.38 35.404 0.07% 35.355 35.383 35.403 0.08% 35.355 35.369 35.391 0.04% 35.355 35.377 35.384 0.06% 35.355 35.383 35.399 0.08% 35.355 35.393 35.4 0.11% 35.355 35.385 35.393 0.08% 35.355 35.384 35.395 0.08% 35.355 35.387 35.378 0.09%

The following table shows the results for glass articles from a different batch of the same material. The position accuracy value was 0.11%.

Design distance/ Real distance/mm mm Center Edge Difference 35.355 35.394 35.376 0.11% 35.355 35.4 35.369 0.13% 35.355 35.399 35.362 0.12% 35.355 35.4 35.364 0.13% 35.355 35.4 35.371 0.13% 35.355 35.391 35.371 0.10% 35.355 35.387 35.377 0.09% 35.355 35.389 35.367 0.10% 35.355 35.392 35.369 0.10% 35.355 35.391 35.37 0.10% 35.355 35.387 35.373 0.09% 35.355 35.389 35.38 0.10%

The following table shows values for another glass article.

Design distance/ Real distance/mm mm w/o striae with striae Difference 35.355 35.348 35.393 −0.02% 35.355 35.342 35.393 −0.04% 35.355 35.358 35.392 0.01% 35.355 35.36 35.395 0.01% 35.355 35.365 35.396 0.03% 35.355 35.359 35.392 0.01% 35.355 35.352 35.39 −0.01% 35.355 35.358 35.391 0.01% 35.355 35.362 35.379 0.02% 35.355 35.368 35.39 0.04% 35.355 35.365 35.394 0.03% 35.355 35.354 35.39 0.00%

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows the cooling curve of glass B1.

FIG. 2 shows a cooling curve with logarithmically plotted x-axis.

FIG. 3 shows the influence of sensitization of an example glass on the transmittance in the UV-region. Transmittance at 280 nm was measured at a sample thickness of 1 mm. The relative increase in transmittance is shown for the sensitized samples A to C in comparison to a non-sensitized comparative sample. Samples A to C differ with regard to the temperature during sensitization. Temperature T1 was lower in sample A than in sample B and in sample B lower than in sample C. It is evident that the increase in transmittance at 280 nm is more pronounced with increasing temperature T1.

FIG. 4 shows transmittance of an example glass with a thickness of 1 mm in dependence from the wavelength.

FIG. 5 shows the dependence of the achieved etching ratio from the tempering temperature. On the x-axis the tempering temperature and on the y-axis the achieved etching ratio is shown. The highest etching ratio is obtained at a tempering temperature of 580° C.

FIG. 6 shows the standard deviation of the obtained hole-diameter in dependence from the designed hole-diameter. The standard deviations are shown both for the top side (diamonds) and the down side (squares) of the through holes. The standard deviation (in μm) is shown on the y-axis. The designed hole-diameter is shown on the x-axis. The results show that the standard deviation is independent of the designed hole-diameter.

FIG. 7 illustrates the distance measurements and the measurement layout with the fixed point in the center and the holes on the circumference. 

1. A photo-structurable glass, which comprises Si⁴⁺, one or more crystal-agonist, one or more crystal-antagonist and one or more pair of nucleating agents, wherein the crystal-agonists are selected from Na⁺, K⁺, and Li⁺, wherein the crystal-antagonists are selected from Al³⁺, B³⁺, Zn²⁺, Sn²⁺ and Sb³⁺, wherein the pair of nucleating agents comprises cerium and at least one agent from the group of silver, gold and copper, and wherein the molar proportion of the crystal-agonists in cat.-% in relation to the molar proportion of Si⁴⁺ is at least 0.3 and at most 0.85, and wherein the glass has a position accuracy value of less than or equal to 0.3%.
 2. The glass according to claim 1, wherein the position accuracy value is less than or equal to 0.2%.
 3. The glass according to claim 1, comprising the following components in cat.-%: Si⁴⁺ 45 to 65 Crystal-agonists 30 to 45 Crystal-antagonists 3.5 to 9


4. The glass according to one of the preceding claim 3, comprising the following components in cat.-%: Si⁴⁺ 45 to 65 Crystal-agonists Li⁺ 25 to 40 K⁺ 0 to 8 Na⁺ 0 to 8 Crystal-antagonists B³⁺ 0 to 5 Al³⁺ 0 to 10 Zn²⁺ 0 to 4 Sb³⁺ 0 to 0.4 Nucleating agents Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ >0 to 0.3 Ag⁺ >0 to 0.5


5. The glass according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the glass contains between 0.02 and 0.2 cat.-% Sb³⁺.
 6. The glass according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the transmittance value is at least 8% at a glass thickness of 1 mm and a wavelength of 280 nm.
 7. The glass according to one of the preceding claims, having an internal transmittance of at most 50% at 314 nm and at a thickness of 1 mm.
 8. The glass according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the surface of the glass has a roughness Ra of less than 5 nm.
 9. The glass according to claim 1, wherein the glass has a transmittance value of at least 0.2% at a wavelength of 160 nm and a sample thickness of 1 mm.
 10. The glass according to claim 1, wherein the glass has cooling state, which corresponds to a steady cooling from a temperature T1 to a temperature T2 with a cooling rate K of at most 200° C./h, wherein temperature T1 is at least above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass and the temperature T2 is at least 150° C. below T1.
 11. A method for producing a glass according to at least one of the preceding claims, comprising Mixing the respective raw materials for obtaining a mixture, Melting the mixture for obtaining a melt, Solidifying the melt for obtaining a glass.
 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein a step of sensitizing the glass follows subsequent to solidifying the melt, wherein the sensitizing comprises cooling the glass from a temperature T1 to a temperature T2 with an average cooling rate of at most 200° C./h, subsequent to re-heating the glass.
 13. The method according to claim 11, wherein solidifying the melt comprises cooling the glass from a temperature T1 to a temperature T2 with an average cooling rate of at most 200° C./h.
 14. The method according to claim 11, wherein temperature T1 is at least above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass and temperature T2 is at least 150° C. below T1.
 15. A crystallized product obtainable by light exposure and tempering of a glass according to claim
 1. 16. The crystallized product according to claim 15, wherein the depth of light exposure is at least 1 mm.
 17. A structured product obtainable by light exposure, tempering and structuring of a glass according to claim
 1. 18. A photo-structurable glass, which comprises Si⁴⁺, one or more crystal-agonist, one or more crystal-antagonist and one or more pair of nucleating agents, wherein the crystal-agonists are selected from Na⁺, K⁺, and Li⁺, wherein the crystal-antagonists are selected from Al³⁺, B³⁺, Zn²⁺, Sn²⁺ and Sb³⁺, wherein the pair of nucleating agents comprises cerium and at least one agent from the group of silver, gold and copper, and wherein the molar proportion of the crystal-agonists in cat.-% in relation to the molar proportion of Si⁴⁺ is at least 0.3 and at most 0.85, and the glass has a cooling state, which corresponds to a steady cooling from a temperature T1 to a temperature T2 with a cooling rate K of at most 200° C./h, wherein temperature T1 is at least above the glass transition temperature T_(g) of the glass and the temperature T2 is at least 150° C. below T1. 